House Democrat Betty Sutton calls her bill the Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save Act. "The CARS Act will achieve many goals: consumers will finally get a break to purchase more fuel-efficient vehicles; we will all benefit from a reduction of CO2; and the auto industry will get a jumpstart to spur sales," she said.
"This legislation will help consumers, stimulate our economy, improve our environment, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and help our domestic auto and related industries, upon which millions of American families depend for unemployment."
The CARS Act would allow consumers to trade in their old vehicles for up to $5000 toward the purchase of a new vehicle. Trade-in vehicles would have to be at least eight years old, and the new vehicles being purchased must achieve better fuel economy than the vehicles they replace and cost less than $35,000. Vehicles assembled in North America would be favored, qualifying for the full $5000 voucher; other vehicles would qualify for $4000.
If the bill requires the vehicles to be assembled in North America - not the U.S. in particular - virtually all of the domestics' vehicles will qualify for the $5000 incentive, including Ford's new Fusion/Milan and their hybrid variants (2010 Mercury Milan hybrid pictured).
Sutton's plan also allows consumers to trade vehicles for a mass transit voucher instead of a new vehicle voucher. "By providing a transit voucher option, this bill will also encourage the use of mass transit, which will similarly benefit our economy and environment," she said.
As could only be expected, the domestics are very pleased with the idea.
GM CEO Rick Wagoner told reporters in Washington today that, "these kinds of programs can have a huge impact," boosting consumer confidence. "It would be very helpful to have something like that here in the United States."
In a statement, Ford said "the 'CARS Act' legislation is a win-win for consumers, the environment and energy independence. By providing incentives to purchase a new vehicle, the legislation would help reduce consumer costs, jumpstart the economy and help support millions of good jobs in every state across the nation."
Ford has been pushing for a similar plan in Germany, which has increased overall auto sales in the country by about 15 percent compared to the same time period last year, to be extended to counteract the recession.
Source: The Detroit News